Uploads from antonsrkn

Peeper

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:19:46 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

A spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) photographed today in Wisconsin. Unless I have time to spare tomorrow, which is unlikely, this will be the last herp I see in WI until September. I am taking a break from packing my things right now and tomorrow I fly out to Hong kong, spend a few days there and continue on to Malaysian Borneo where I will be spending the next few months!! I don't know if I will have time to update my flickr much over the coming summer but I will certainly have a bunch of photos afterwards!

lagomorph 4

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:06:43 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

I was playing around with the Nikon D7100 and trying to learn its various settings and get used to it, there are alot of differences between it and my old D80 but I'm starting to get the hang of it. Anyways, while I was doing that this rabbit showed up, I was happy to use him as a model. Here I was testing out the auto ISO setting, I always set the ISO manually on the nikon D80 but I was pleased with the results and the choices the camera made with auto ISO here so I may leave that aspect up to the D7100 more often from now on.

Not the most exotic wildlife, an Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) from the backyard. Bear with me, I'll have much more exotic wildlife photos to post soon as I'm going to Borneo in a few weeks! The eastern cottontail is found throughout the eastern and south-central United States, southern Canada, eastern Mexico, Central America and northernmost South America. This one lives in a bush underneath my parents kitchen window.

Lagomorph 3

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:05:35 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

Lagomorph 2

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:04:44 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

Lagomorph

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Sat, 04 May 2013 15:45:16 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

Turtle Chin

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:43:07 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

I don't have much to post lately so here is an extreme macro of a snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) chin. Not something many people take a close look at and not something most snapping turtles would care to let people see, this one was extremely lethargic from the cold so it was possible to get this photo. I thought it would make for an unusual and interesting shot. No cropping with this photo, I used a diopter on top of my 105 mm lens to be able to get this close.

Sleeping Beauty

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:40:23 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

One of the Common Snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) I pulled out of the pond yesterday, no doubt dreaming of tasty ducklings and warmer weather. It was alive but so cold that it was mostly unresponsive, hopefully the warmer weather today and in the next couple of days helps it snap out of it.

Me+2

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 22:14:25 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

Well, this is the face behind the lens and it needs a shave (the face, not the lens). Right after wading into the frigid water to retrieve the turtles. Obviously one of the few images in my photostream where the face behind the lens was not mine.

Pebble Skin

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 20:23:51 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

Another cold day in Wisconsin, I went out for a little while today and came across something unexpected. A small woodland pond I found with filled with floating turtle icicles. It was a small pond but I saw 2 Blandings turtles, 2 Painted turtles, and 2 Snapping turtles. At first I thought all the turtles were dead but a closer look revealed that despite being completely listless and unresponsive they were alive and shallowly breathing and once in a while moving a tiny bit. It was bizarre just seeing turtles floating around in the pond, I wish I had gotten some photos of them in the water but wading out into the freezing water in my boxers wasn't much fun and I didn't want to extend my time in there even by a minute. I have never heard of this before and I hope the turtles will be ok, I think they must have emerged and then gotten caught up in this latest cold snap. This photo is an extreme close up of one of the snapping turtles I found. Its strange that the cold would have put this turtle out of commission, Common Snapping Turtles are a cold-tolerant species; radiotelemtry studies have shown that some individuals do not hibernate, but remain active under the ice during the winter.

Ecuadorian Endemic

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:49:14 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

Well I have been meaning to post this for a while and now is as good a time as any. Initially I wasn't planning on posting this photo but the ID changed my mind. With the help of some mammal experts much more knowledgeable than I, the ID has been narrowed down to Thomasomys erro or Thomasomys ucucha. This is exciting for me as both species are extremely range restricted and found in a small fragment of the Andes Mountains in Ecuador. I certainly wasn't expecting anything like this when I first saw the mouse.

The IUCN range maps for the species, may be a bit outdated but still show the extremely restricted range.
T. erro: maps.iucnredlist.org/map.html?id=136345
T. ucucha: maps.iucnredlist.org/map.html?id=136487

Common Loon (Gavia immer)

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:53:32 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

A simple photo of a common loon (Gavia immer) on the Mississippi River between Wisconsin and Minnesota. You can see it was snowing as I took this photo, most of the river was frozen over but this section was open and a variety of waterfowl made use of that fact. Loons are diving birds that chase down and feed on fish, infact while this one was further out it came up with and ate some sort of fish. It was cool to see but too far out for any worthwhile photos, surprisingly the loon ended up moving closer to shore afterwards. It was by no means close but I think this is the closest I have seen a wild Loon so far. Fitting that the Loon sighting was on a trip to Minnesota as the Loon is MNs state bird, in my opinion that is much better than Wisconsin's Robin.

Nom nom nom...

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 15:16:42 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

An Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) seen munching on a acorn in central Wisconsin woodland. Some of the first subjects I can remember photographing were chipmunks but its been a while since I snapped any shots of them. These rodents are fairly ubiquitous, found in the Eastern United states and Canada. It prefers deciduous and mixed forests, and is most abundant in old-growth hardwoods containing sugar maple, beech, and a relatively open understory, despite these preferences it is quite at home in many suburban gardens as well.

Bronzed

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:35:00 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

Even though it was just a Eastern Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis), I took plenty of photos. Not only is it the first snake of the year but I also really liked its appearance with the bronze color that has stained its scales.

Nuthatch

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:42:19 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

A White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis), despite this being a common species I have never managed a decent photograph before yesterday. This nuthatch was hopping all over this tree and I was lucky enough to get this photo as it froze for a split second. The White Breasted Nuthatch ranges throughout much of the United States, infact looking at a map right now it looks like its found atleast in a part of all 48 of the continental states. In addition to this its ranges north into Canada and fairly far south into Mexico and is found throughout woodland areas in these places.

Swanscape

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:47:36 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

Another photo of one of the pair of Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) I was lucky to see yesterday. It was a pretty bleak view in Horicon National Wildlife Refuge yesterday, not a hint of green in the landscape yet despite it being April, hopefully a few more weeks and things will be more verdant. Horicon Marsh is a great place for a variety of birds, as I was photographing this swan I could hear sandhill cranes calling. The birds visible in the distance behind the swan are primarily canada geese but there are some mallards and american coots scattered around as well. In just a few minutes after moving on from the swans I also saw a species of Grebe, Shovelnose ducks, Hooded mergansers, and more. There is a huge variety of waterfowl in the area and thats why it has been designated a National Wildlife Refuge.

Mudface

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:27:28 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

Another photo of the Eastern Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis) from yesterday, usually these snakes are very twitchy and quick however due to the cold weather this one was downright placid and a pleasure to photograph. I'm glad I got some shots which I'm happy with as every year I'm annoyed with myself for not getting any photos of this common species. Like I have mentioned in the description of my other photos of this snake, you can see how dirty it is after spending the winter underground, it hasn't had a chance for its spring shed yet.

Scales

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:03:15 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

A close up of the scales of an Eastern Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis), they are stained a muddy brown color from the snake spending the winter underground in its hibernaculum. Who knows, maybe this was the first day of the year that it climbed out from underneath the ground?

Swan Swamp

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:46:18 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

There are 3 species of swan in the United States and Wisconsin, these are the invasive Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) and the 2 native species; The Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) and the Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus). I am pretty sure this is a trumpeter swan which was listed as a state endangered bird until 2009 and now apparently there are 200 breeding pairs in 23 counties here. There was a pair of them sitting in the wetland at Horicon national wildlife refuge. I had seen wild swans here in Wisconsin before but always from much further away or it was the invasive mute swans, its not what I set out to see this morning but it certainly was a welcome addition to my day. If my ID is incorrect someone please tell me.

First snake of 2013, the year of the snake

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:20:45 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

Considering that 2013 is the year of the snake according to the Chinese calendar, it sure took me a long time to find my first one this year. Finally found this gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis) today (4/7/2013), as it was attempting to warm up outside its hibernaculum (sheltered spot where it spends the winter months). Its warmed up a bit here in Wisconsin but despite that it was still a cold day and I was surprised to see this snake out in the open. Most open water in this area was still covered in a layer of ice and patches of snow that still hadn't had time to melt were scattered across the landscape.

White tailed deer

nobody@flickr.com (antonsrkn) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 19:52:36 -0700

antonsrkn posted a photo:

I took my new Nikon D7100 out for the first time yesterday, its still cold outside and spring has just barely reached Wisconsin at this point. In other words, its still pretty grey and dismal outside, but I still managed to find something to photograph. These white tailed deer were grazing near the road and made a good subject. I have a lot to learn with the new camera body and this became apparent while I was shooting these. I wanted to change certain settings and realized its very different from my old D80, so I'll just have to take it out alot in the near future to learn everything about it. After the first outing with the D7100 I'm happy but I have some changes to get used to.

The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is the most widely distributed ungulate in the new world and is found throughout most of North America and into northern South America. They are a common sight here in Wisconsin and throughout many parts of the midwest. This one and 3-4 others were hanging out near the forest edge near the road.